


Anywhere But Here

by respoftw



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character Study, Community: picfor1000, Episode: s01e12 The Defiant One, Episode: s01e13 Hot Zone, Frottage, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-04 00:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13352676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: Rodney had started playing ‘anywhere but here’ when he was six years old.





	Anywhere But Here

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for both day 12 of fandom Snowflake Challenge and the picfor1000 community. My prompt picture can be found [here](https://unsplash.com/photos/FH0Hp1WqtjE)

Rodney had started playing ‘anywhere but here’ when he was six years old. At night, when his parents were screaming at each other downstairs, Meredith would curl up into a tight ball and wish that he was somewhere else with another family that would love him and play with him and read him something much less terrifying than Moby Dick when he asked for a bedtime story.

When he was in high school, bored out of his mind, supremely unchallenged and trying to make it through a lunch without being forced to wear his underwear on his head, he wished he was in college.

And then, when college came, he wished he was someplace else entirely. Somewhere where he wasn't younger than everyone else by at least five years, somewhere where he wasn't sneered at or made fun of, somewhere where he belonged.

At Area 51, he longed to be working in the heart of the SGC where his intellect and his skills could be put to their best use instead of studying the gate from afar and getting his hands on only those objects that the SGC deemed uninteresting enough not to bother keeping for themselves. The SGC was supposed to be his escape. He probably should have learned his lesson from the whole college thing. He got to the SGC and managed to last only two days before he screwed up royally and found himself in Siberia.

He would rather be _anywhere_ than stuck in Siberia. Siberia was cold and hostile, both in climate and welcome. He spoke just enough of the language to understand what they said about him when they thought he couldn't hear and, god, he wished he were somewhere else.

Somewhere warm. A tropical beach maybe, under the shade of a gazebo to save his fair skin from burning. Maybe he wouldn’t even need the gazebo, it was his fantasy after all. A tropical beach with just enough of a breeze that he wouldn't overheat and an ozone layer that repelled the worst of the sun’s ultra violet light.

A place like that might exist - it's not like he was limited to Earth in his fantasies after all.

It was almost laughable that his next move took him to a place even colder than Siberia.

Antarctica.

Despite the cold, Rodney could almost have been happy in Antarctica. For the first time in a long time, he was energised by his work, finally getting to perform at the level he felt he deserved. Even the people were marginally less stupid than he was used to - with the exception of Kavanagh of course.

He might have been content for the first time in his life if it hadn't been for the possibility of Atlantis. Atlantis became the ultimate ‘anywhere but here’ wish and when the time came to install the ZPM and dial the gate, Rodney thought he'd pass out from the exhilaration.

Of course, as amazing as Atlantis was, it didn't stop Rodney wishing himself somewhere else.

An Atlantis that wasn't trapped underwater and set to drown them all any minute; a Pegasus Galaxy that wasn't crawling with creepy Marilyn Manson looking bug men that wanted to eat him; an Atlantis where he didn't keep losing people, in horrible ways.

He should never have given Gall that gun. Rodney spent the entire fifteen hour jumper ride back to Atlantis wishing that he were anywhere but there and trying to avoid the concerned looks that Sheppard was throwing his way.

The tropical island thing sounded nice. At this point, he'd even take one on Earth with an ozone layer so weak that he'd have to slather on the factor 100. At least people he was supposed to be responsible for wouldn't be dying.

John Sheppard crawled into his bed after the incident with the nanites. John’s hands explored every inch of Rodney's skin, assuring himself that Rodney was still with him, still whole, alive. When the sobs started to wrack Rodney's body, John was there to hold him through it, a silent but solid support that Rodney hadn't ever experienced before.

John brushed the tears away from Rodney's cheeks with his lips and his fingers and when his lips brushed against Rodney's own, he answered them with a hungry kiss, tasting the salt of his tears on them.

John's mouth opened on a moan and Rodney took it as an invitation to push closer, deeper, harder. It wasn't enough. He didn't know how it could ever be enough.

Rodney moved quickly, stripping John of his clothes while John did the same to him, their arms getting tangled up in the rush. Chuckling softly, John pulled back and finished undressing himself while Rodney watched, panting.

John's skin was surprisingly cool against his own but soon warmed up as they rocked gently together. He could feel John's mouth on his neck, sucking marks that Rodney knew would bruise into the skin there. Rodney pulled him closer, urging him on. A steady stream of pleadings fell from his lips; more, harder, please. John lifted himself up on his arms and shifted angles until their cocks brushed together, causing John to moan loudly.

The gentle rocking gained momentum, getting faster and more desperate the closer they spiralled towards completion. John came first, his mouth falling open and his body tensing as he fell over the edge, coating both of their bellies with his release. The warmth of it against his skin had Rodney following straight after, his muscles turning to jelly as they both lay there, still tangled together, sated.

He moaned at the loss of John's warmth but John shushed him, returning quickly with a cool cloth to clean them both up before tangling himself back into Rodney's arms on the narrow bed.

“Sleep,” he said quietly. “I'll still be here in the morning.”

Rodney woke up with John wrapped around him and, for the first time since he was six years old, he couldn't imagine being anywhere else.


End file.
